Episode Title: “Ancient History”
Writer: Jason Tracey
Director: Sanaa Hamri
Previously on “Elementary:”
Procedurals tend to get repetitive, what with all that crime solving, week after week, and yet “Elementary” continually finds ways to stay fresh, as a season’s worth of dead bodies start to pile up.
It’s still a relatively young show, but “Elementary’s” sharp sense of humor and the comedic chemistry that Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu share makes even the most rote murder case fun to watch. This week’s episode features a typical mobster murder with all the usual players: a shady business partner, a dead hitman, a grieving wife and a crime syndicate with ties to them all.
The case itself isn’t all that interesting, but Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) and Watson’s (Lucy Liu) approach is what always make an otherwise cookie cutter murder investigation so enjoyable to watch. The two consultants have a dead body on their hands with reformed hitman, Leo Banin and evidence suggests Banin performed one last hit before he was killed.
All Sherlock and Watson have to do is find Banin’s victim, but all of his associates turn up alive, to Sherlock’s disappointment. “You’re alive, that’s unfortunate” Sherlock says when he and Watson encounter Banin’s contractor partner in a motel “sorting cocaine and underwhelming a stream of a affordable prostitutes” as only Sherlock can describe it. It’s one of the funnier scenes in the episode, watching Sherlock question the coked up contractor as he checks out Watson, who is clearly outside her comfort zone.
As the case rolls along, Sherlock and Watson track down more of Banin’s underworld associates, leading them to the dead body of a Russian mobster with garrote wounds that match up to those on Banin’s hands. Detective Bell (Jon Michael Hill) suspects a notorious gangster may have killed Banin, but his alibi about being in the hospital for a stab wound checks out. That’s when Sherlock notices the tourniquet on the gangster’s leg, fashioned from the drapes in Banin’s home.
It’s pretty obvious from the start that Banin’s wife, Lara had something to do with his death and Sherlock and Watson put it all together rather quickly at the end. Lara knew the Russian mob wanted her husband dead for running off with their money so she gave them a call. But her husband proved he still had some skills, despite leaving the mob years ago. Twice Banin was able to get away from the men sent to kill him, stabbing one and killing the other, but got into a fatal accident fleeing on a motorcycle, resulting in his death and that of an innocent woman. Knowing she’s caught, Lara explains her actions, telling the detectives that Leo wanted a divorce when he found out she appeared in porn films to make money to travel to the United States. Knowing she’d be cut out of the elder care home she and Leo put all their money into building, Lara dropped a dime on her soon-to-be-ex-husband, letting the Russian mob know his whereabouts.
But the mob murder isn’t the only case we get this week. A friend of Watson’s asks her to apply her keen detective skills in hopes of reconnecting with a memorable one-night stand. Sherlock is against Watson taking on the case, urging her to have some “professional pride,” but that’s only because he’s the man Watson’s friend slept with. Watson is offended by Sherlock’s breach of trust, as he explains he followed her to the bar the night her friend had the one night stand in an effort to learn more about his new sober companion.
But in the end, Watson has the last laugh. She meets with her friend who tells her that Sherlock contacted her and they worked things out. Watson quickly realizes that the two slept together once again, though her friend swears it was just to get “closure.” When she comes home, Watson tells Sherlock about what happened and that her friend is so glad he was willing to help her get pregnant. For a minute, Sherlock is stunned and it’s probably the best minute of Watson’s entire week. It’s certainly a great way to end another excellent episode.
